Gati scouting for investors in loss-making cold chain business

Cold chain as a business is poised for fast paced growth in the future as organised retail expands.

Logistics firm Gati Ltd is looking for a strategic partner or a financial investor for its cold chain business Gati Kausar, as per a stock market disclosure on Friday.

Gati Kausar is into cold chain transportation across user verticals such as healthcare, meat & poultry, bio-pharma, frozen & fresh produce, dairy products, organised retail and quick service restaurants. It is one of the largest refrigerated trucking networks in the country.

Earlier known as Kausar India Ltd, the firm was renamed as Gati Kausar India Ltd last year. Its revenue grew 14 per cent to Rs 45.85 crore during FY13 with EBITDA loss of Rs 4.9 crore and net loss of Rs 2.4 crore.

Last year it added 65 refrigerated vehicles to the existing fleet of 215 vehicles. Gati Kausar provides full truck load services for long haul transportation across India, and services from distribution centres or cold storages, to varied end-users through the deployment of in-city vehicles.

It is also entering into the cold storage market and is setting up a chain of cold storage units across major metros.

Meanwhile, Gati has also maintained its plans of further divesting stake in the shipping business. It said the company has already divested 40 per cent stake in shipping business and plans to further divest but there are no fresh developments in this regard.